Thus said Levi Pearson on Sat, 06 Dec 2008 15:20:55 MST:
> Yeah, a constitution that empowers the federal government to collect
> taxes. How do you justify that, if no person or collection of persons
> may take something from another by force?
Of course it cannot be justified from a libertarian point of view
because it violates the non-aggression axiom. But I'm sure that many can
rationalize it; man is, good at rationalizing many things that aren't
correct.
> You can't have it both ways. Either the government can ethically
> collect taxes or the constitution created a flawed and immoral
> government.
And is there anything wrong with that premise? Of course its flawed, it
was created by imperfect beings who were not omniscient. And where it
violates moral norms it is immoral, certainly. Just because some group
of people get together and create a government does not mean that it is
entirely morally correct. For Christians, is not taxation a violation of
``thou shalt not steal?'' How else could it be understood? Or has it
been amended to ``thou shalt not steal, except by majority vote?'' At
the very least, taxation breeds moral hazards.
Andy
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